ABSTRACT:
This paper discusses the formation of the concept of Name of the father from 1938 to 1958. For this purpose Lacanian work is divided into 3 stages. At first, the father is conceived as imago in the thesis of the primacy of the imaginary. In the second, the paternal function is thought as a symbol in the theory of intersubjectivity. Thirdly, the Name of the father is formulated as a signifier in the structuralist theory. The paper also discusses the limits of the concept of the Name of the father in the late fifties and points to further developments.
Keywords:
Name of the father; Lacan; symbolic; signifier